1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed, in general, to electronics chassis and, more particularly, to such chassis adapted for use as a power supply chassis and having a simplified construction.
2. Description of Related Art
In the past, the manufacture of electronics chasses for computer equipment and for personal computer ("PC") power supplies, in particular, was at least a three step process depending, in large part, on the final desired shape of the chassis, the manner in which the chassis was to be secured to its environment and the manner in which the electronic components were to be secured within the chassis.
The manufacture of a typical prior art chassis was a three-step process begun first by stamping portions of the chassis out of sheet metal with a die press. The stamping step yielded one or more flat sheets of metal having shapes that could be bent to form portions of the finished chassis. Each flat sheet of metal was then bent to produce various walls of the chassis. In doing so, various edges of the flat sheet were brought into proximity with one another to form edges and corners of the chassis.
Prior art chassis manufacturing processes required, as a second step, so-called secondary fabrication operations, such as brazing, cementing or riveting (and subsequently defined in greater detail), to lock the various edges to one another so as to form a rigid, mechanically sturdy chassis, to form a barrier as against electromagnetic interference ("EMI") emanating from the components in the chassis or circuitry within the computer system and to form good electrical conductivity in the chassis for grounding purposes. Once the secondary operations were complete, the various chassis portions were ready to be removably joined together, in a third step, to form the final, assembled chassis.
Unfortunately, the prior art secondary fabrication operations required extra time, effort and machinery to perform, resulting in slower, more costly, more complicated and more error-prone manufacture of prior art chassis.
What is needed in the art is a chassis construction and method of manufacture therefor that obviates a need to apply secondary fabrication operations to the manufacture of chassis portions, thereby eliminating one of the three steps previously required in the manufacture of chasses.